A Walk in the Woods

In the twilight of his life, New Hampshire based travel writer Bill Bryson (Robert Redford), who has travelled the world primarily outside the U.S. for work, literally stumbles upon the idea to hike the two thousand two hundred mile Appalachian Trail, despite only a small fraction of those that make the attempt, the majority being much younger, complete the entire length, which usually takes in the realm of five or six months. Most that know him consider the idea total folly, including his adult children and his loyal and faithful wife of forty years, Catherine (Dame Emma Thompson), who tries to talk him out of it. If he is determined to do it, she insists that he not do it alone. In Bill putting the feelers out, the only person who responds positively is Stephen Katz (Nick Nolte), who only heard about it through a mutual friend, as the two have not seen or talked to each other in forty years. They parted company way back then on less than good terms. In reuniting with Stephen, Bill can see that it will be a difficult physical journey since he's not in the best of shape. Beyond the physical issues and the natural hazards of the hike, they will have to overcome many other obstacles if they have any hope of completing the journey, including dealing with the misadventures they get into with other people they meet along the way. Arguably, the biggest obstacle may be dealing with each other, not only in having different motivations for making this trip, but in addressing the other's foibles which made them not keep in touch for forty years.